As you age, you will hopefully feel like you have aged gracefully. As an observer of people, you may have noticed how worn out and old someone appears. It may seem that they may have aged way beyond their chronological years. It is as if their appearance shows an actual road map of their life. You cannot tell at 'face value' what their life story has been but you can sense that they may have had a harsh existence. What does your facade reveal about you? To others, do you think you appear to be happy? Brooding? Depressed? Indifferent? Hostile? Friendly? Likeable? Since we cannot be our own observers, some honest and genuine feedback from our significant others may provide you some valuable insight. What your outward appearance shows to the world may be your 'mask' to cover up how you have chosen to treat yourself throughout the years. In addition, from your past behavior, you teach people how to treat you as well. To better improve how you do take care of yourself is first understood with the important concept of 'extreme self-care.' Extreme self-care is simply the act of making the active care of you a priority. You do so by establishing that you deserve to be #1. By putting yourself first, you are being selfish in the greatest possible sense. Selfishness in this context is not synonymous with being either egocentric or insensitive. It means you care about you and what is in your best and highest interest, without any harm or disregard to others. An excerpt from the book titled, The 28 Laws of Attraction, by Thomas J. Leonard: Living in today's world places many demands on your body, mind, heart and spirit. The purpose of extreme self-care is to create a positively selfish focus on balance, well-being, and quality of life.The 7 Ways to Effectively Practice Extreme Self-Care are:1. Find tangible ways to nurture yourself every day. You alone will know what feels right. It can be a simple pleasure that you enjoy experiencing (a morning cup of coffee, reading a book uninterrupted, taking a long shower, eating a delicious meal, etc.) Set aside an increment of time (your most precious resource) to indulge yourself in ways that bring you joy and comfort.2. Attempt to reduce unnecessary stress. Handle items that you deem priorities and seek to eliminate those that are unwanted. Follow the system of the four D's to facilitate lowering your personal stressors: Delegate to others what you do not have the time or skills to do, to better manage you. Delete or Dump what is not needed. Just like you take out the trash, do so by clearing out physical and mental clutter in your environment. Diminish any unnecessary responsibilities or tasks that you deem may be unworthy of your time or commitment. Delay by temporarily postponing issues or items that are not important to tackle today. 3. Stop treating others better than you do yourself. Ask right now, how would I like to be treated in this situation? Does this feel right to me? What is best for me?4. Listen to your intuition when you are asked to do something for someone else that you may not really want to do. Say NO when you really mean it, instead of yes and later being angry with yourself for allowing it to happen. 5. Do not wait for a health crisis to remind you to be number one. Becoming ill is a state of 'dis-ease' and it requires your intense determination and motivation to become whole and well again. 6. Adapt the concept and understand the true distinction of being self-full and not selfish. (Another blog article was posted in-depth on this topic: http://www.e3coaching.net/1/category/selfishness/1.html )7. Becoming more mindful about practicing extreme self-care will not only allow you to get the immediate full benefits but it will also positively impact the well-being of others in your circle. You hopefully will have avoided the overwhelming sensation of being 'burned-out.' You'll have the reserves of your good intentions and energy to share and be generous of spirit to others. Nothing is more important than being you own best caretaker. Life is short; there are no guarantees how long we may live but we can become much better stewards of our minds, body and spirit by how we choose to treat ourselves going forward. Take time to take care of yourself, before time takes care of you! I invite your comments.

I have enjoyed the Pause Newsletter for several years, it was recommended by a dear friend from Nipawin and I just enjoy reading it so much!
My comment would be about #2., the 4 D's. How about 5 D's - Do it and move forward.
Thanks and keep up the good work, it is appreciated.